


when the kill time comes

by surrenderer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M, Possessive Armitage Hux, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Armitage Hux, Scheming, Soft Kylux, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:55:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24688000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrenderer/pseuds/surrenderer
Summary: Officially, Lord Ren and General Hux are debriefing together at the end of the shift in the general’s office, adjacent to his private quarters.Hux has a plan, and Kylo comes along for the ride.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 17
Kudos: 63





	when the kill time comes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sternfleck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sternfleck/gifts).



> [sternfleck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sternfleck): In some brighter timeline, there’s a version of Hux who would burn the Order to the ground to be with Kylo.  
> Me: ............I can't make any promises but also here's 1900 words of it.
> 
> This fic took on a life of its own after the first 200 words and I was helpless to do anything but ride the wave, so forgive me for anything that seems odd or out-of-place. Un-beta'ed, like everything else in my life.
> 
> Title from [Glory and Gore](https://open.spotify.com/track/0SK9wxN40P6jlcMfTSAe0V?si=-VoKpqYfTf2Oez_wKTlN8g) by Lorde.

Officially, Lord Ren and General Hux are debriefing together at the end of the shift in the general’s office, adjacent to his private quarters.

Unofficially, Kylo sits on Hux’s ice-blue couch in a state of undress, down to his undershirt and his tight training leggings, and Hux perches in his lap to catalog the damage done since the last time they saw each other.

They’ve finished that part of the routine, where Hux scowls at every fresh bruise on Kylo’s body, and have moved on to other, more worthwhile pursuits.

“All is proceeding according to plan,” Hux murmurs in his ear, brushing his lips against the curve of it before returning to kiss Kylo properly, holding him in place with gloved hands on his cheeks. “We made significant progress while you were gone.”

No surprises there; Hux is nothing if not efficient when given the time. Kylo leans back against the couch and brings Hux down with him so they can kiss and bite at each other. This is the only thing the couch is good for, in his opinion. “I expected nothing less. The officers are loyal to you. It wouldn’t take much.”

“They are loyal to the cause, not to me specifically. As it should be—they should dedicate themselves to the good of the First Order, not to one person,” Hux corrects him, tugging at Kylo’s hair to emphasize his point. He slides out of Kylo’s lap afterwards, to his displeasure, but leads the way into the bedroom.

Kylo follows immediately, a well-trained hound on his heels.

Hux’s office is safe, but nowhere is safer for them than his private quarters. Hux sweeps all his rooms for listening devices multiple times a day, no matter that he is the only one with full access to these quarters. Even Kylo doesn’t know the bypass code, though he prefer to use the Force to manipulate the locks anyway. But Hux is cautious, and sees security breaches even where there are none.

None of these things stop Kylo from reading Hux’s moods and the occasional strong thought, but he’s taught Hux to shield himself unobtrusively from anyone else. It was the second condition of their agreement.

The first is that Kylo will be the one to place the crown on Hux’s head when they succeed.

He shuts the door behind them as Hux strides over to the closet and slides the panel open. “It doesn’t matter who or what they choose to dedicate themselves to. You are the face of the holocasts they watch. The troops on board hear your voice every day. The junior officers revere you. If we have any hope of succeeding, it has to be you at the forefront.”

“Why, Ren. That almost sounds like flattery.” Hux unzips his boots, steps out of them, and removes his gloves, setting them on the desk for the time being. Kylo’s throat goes dry at the sight of his dainty wrists, elegant and fine-boned. He sees so little of Hux during each shift that every inch of exposed skin sets him on fire.

Not to be outdone, he pulls his shirt over his head and leaves it on the floor, knowing that Hux will notice and will definitely complain about it. His leggings go in the same pile, although he really should be sending them into the laundry chute instead.

By the time Hux unbuckles his belt and hangs up his tunic in his typically fussy way, Kylo is waiting for him, reclining on the bed with his bare legs stretched out in front of him, propped up on the pillows. The bed is not particularly comfortable nor large enough for two grown men of their height and Kylo’s build, but it’s a soft, flat surface and it’ll do.

Kylo has hinted more than a few times that Hux could simply request a larger bed, as is his right as one of the commanding officers of this ship, but Hux refuses. “As if I need speculation about my off-duty hours filed into a requisition order, of all things,” he’d sniff, and Kylo would do his best to shove him off the bed in the middle of their sleep cycle just to make his point.

Neither of them are in the mood to drag things out, if the way Hux climbs into his lap once he’s stripped down to his underwear is any indication. “I never knew it’d be so easy to command loyalty,” he muses as he settles once again on his favorite throne and drapes his arms over Kylo’s shoulders; his hidden blade remains sheathed and strapped to his forearm as he toys with Kylo’s hair. “Loyalty implies positive associations towards something. I don’t think I’ve had a positive association with any authority figure in my entire life.”

Kylo strokes his thumbs over the smooth skin at Hux’s ribcage, unblemished and unscarred. He wants to map every inch with his mouth. “That’s what the conditioning programs are for. Dedication to the First Order, from both the officers and the troops, is essential to both progress and stability, General. We won’t win without it.”

Hux raises one fine brow at him, but rewards him with a push and grind of his hips that makes them both moan softly. Kylo doesn’t have to read his mind to know that he’s pleased that Kylo’s been paying attention to his broadcasts. “Flattery _and_ the proper use of my title in the same night? What have I done to deserve this?”

Kylo shrugs. “Just in the right mood.” Hux will never admit the true reason why he’s planting the seeds of rebellion within the First Order, and so Kylo will never admit why the thought of it sets his blood aflame.

But they both know the dangerous truth, even if they won’t say it out loud, and it’s enough for now.

He squeezes Hux’s waist—not hard enough to bruise, that can come later—then slides his hands down his hips to rid him of the black underwear as well. Standard issue, like the rest of Hux’s uniform, much to his disappointment. Sometimes Hux dresses up for his return, if Kylo’s able to send word beforehand, but not this time.

Hux twists in his lap to help, and the last bit of cloth separating them gets tossed onto the floor. Kylo rests his hand on Hux’s stomach for a brief moment before dragging his fingers lower and circling them around Hux’s cock. The breathy sigh Hux lets out at his touch is reward enough for now. “I take it you met with everyone while I was gone, then.”

“Of course I did,” Hux answers, although his voice is steady as if Kylo doesn’t have one hand on his cock, working him to full hardness. Sometimes, Kylo thinks about sucking him off under the console as he makes his daily speeches to the troops. See how long his composure lasts then. “We’re not ready for action, not by a long shot, but there’s been progress. The trouble will be organizing with the other ships, when the time comes. I can’t be everywhere at once.”

Hux takes these meetings in his quarters only, and only after conducting thorough searches of each attendee, in case they carry listening devices in the folds of their uniform. Limited holo-calls, and absolutely no messages through the fleet’s holonet, although Kylo is certain that Hux could create encrypted channels if he needed to.

When Kylo is on the ship, Hux makes him stay behind the closed door of the bedroom, skimming the thoughts of each officer in the meeting for hints of treachery.

They cannot be too cautious, he keeps repeating when Kylo questions his paranoia. “Never with this,” he’d say, stroking a gloved hand down Kylo’s cheek, sometimes skimming his thumb over Kylo’s mouth. “I will not lose _this_ to another officer’s betrayal or carelessness.”

The taste of leather always lingers on Kylo’s lips long after he’s left Hux’s quarters.

Their saving grace has been that Snoke does not usually care about the day-to-day operations of the First Order—it’s simply too large of an organization even for a powerful Force user to track at all times, or so they hope. The Supreme Leader cares about updates to Hux’s progress on the weapon, and their victories and losses when they skirmish with the Resistance or take over another planet in the Unknown Regions, but otherwise, his focus is on Kylo’s training, and his missions with the Knights of Ren to destroy what remains of the Jedi.

As long as they don’t give Snoke a reason to be suspicious about what brews under his nose, all will be well.

Even without using the Force, Kylo can practically hear the gears in Hux’s brain whirring as he considers some plan or another, some potential land mine in their way, and that won’t do, not when there are other, better uses of their time together. So Kylo stops touching him, but pulls him close instead, arms tight around Hux’s body as he flips him over and down onto the mattress.

Hux’s hair falls in his face, the pomade loosening its hold after all the damage Kylo’s done to it, but the look he throws Kylo is sharp and hungry, so Kylo leans down to kiss him and pin him down with his body. It’s heated and messy, their lips moving wetly as they rub against each other like inexperienced cadets, but it’s theirs.

Just like the Order will be.

That day is coming soon, no matter what Hux says about not being ready yet. The weapon is entering its final development stages, and they’ve both agreed that they have to do this before the weapon is fully functional—they stand no chance otherwise.

And Hux will never admit to this, but Kylo knows he’s itching to watch Snoke fall. He already looks mutinous every time Kylo returns from weeks of training with new bruises and scars and an empty look in his eyes, and the one time Kylo came back to the _Finalizer_ with broken ribs and new battle scars after a particularly brutal failure and the subsequent lesson from the Supreme Leader, he could feel Hux’s helpless rage on the bridge all the way from his quarters.

Perhaps the general understands loyalty better than he thinks.

Even now, Hux touches him where he’s sore and aching, fingers skimming lightly over the bruises on his side. They’re just sparring injuries from a session with his Knights, nothing to worry over—but Kylo revels in the flare of indignation from Hux when he feels the heated flesh, the flash of possessiveness and _mine_ so palpable that it makes him shiver and tuck his face against Hux’s pale neck for a moment, just to let that emotion flow through him.

_Yes, yours._

Snoke is growing complacent, sheltered away from the rest of the Order on his flagship. He thinks he has Kylo and he thinks he has Hux. If not their loyalty, then their fear and their hostility turned inwards, towards each other, and that it’s enough to keep them both in line.

He doesn’t see the way they hunger for each other. How Hux, cold and ruthless and rabid, would burn the entire First Order to the ground and remake it in his image, if it means Kylo will be his and his alone. How Kylo would let him, and bring him the entire galaxy, every system and star, on a silver platter if it means he can stay by Hux’s side.

Underestimating them will be Snoke’s downfall in the end, Kylo thinks, before Hux’s hands are sliding lower and lower, burning him up with every touch, and he ceases to think at all.

**Author's Note:**

> And of course, they were successful and took over the whole galaxy, because I am incapable of writing anything but soft kylux right now.
> 
> [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders) [Tumblr.](https://part-timewonders.tumblr.com/) Come say hi, if that's the kinda thing that appeals to you.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [but victory's contagious](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26802874) by [surrenderer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrenderer/pseuds/surrenderer)




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